


Two is Better Than One

by Rosewood_Writes



Series: Faded [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 05:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20002978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosewood_Writes/pseuds/Rosewood_Writes
Summary: A stroke of fate and good luck brings Iron Bull and Ethira together-and not a moment too soon.





	Two is Better Than One

The sound of the river made Iron Bull pick up the pace. His hunt for Ethira had gotten a lot harder now that the terrain had gotten more rugged. Her trail had vanished not too far back, and no signs of her were visible enough in the dark. So, he had veered off course to rest for a few hours. He slowed his pace as the roar of the river grew louder. Despite the light of the rising sun, he still couldn’t see the water yet. The last thing on his mind was walking off a cliff with no one else around. It was bad enough he was out here alone with little to no supplies of any kind.  
Sure enough, he spotted where the hill ended abruptly just up ahead. Iron Bull peered over the edge of the cliff, whistling quietly as he spotted the river a good forty feet below him. After a moment of thought, he followed the river downstream. They’d set up by the same river further down a few nights ago if he was remembering correctly. If Ethira was to head anywhere, it would be that way.  
Gradually, the steep, rocky cliffs fell away, giving room for strips of sandy beaches and calmer waters. Once he was able to get to the water’s edge, he backtracked to a rocky overhang he had spotted on his way down. If anywhere was a decent spot to camp, that was it. Thankfully, the spot seemed free of any potential dangers and was disguised well enough to hide him from any passersby.  
Iron Bull grunted as he flopped down in the sand and stretched his legs and back. Despite the chill setting in, it felt good to finally sit and rest for a moment. After a few minutes to let his aching muscles rest, he got back up and combed the surrounding beach for debris to start a fire. It wouldn’t do to freeze to death before he found Ethira. Now that he was on his own, he almost missed her ability to set shit on fire instantly. Almost.  
It took a while for the tinder to catch the damp twigs and debris he had scavenged. But, after a moment of diligent tending and prodding, the fire took hold of the branches. He held his hands out before the flames, shuddering slightly as a breeze swept through the ravine. Thankfully, the night sky was clear. Sitting out in the rain throughout the night wasn’t very high on his list of things to do. While the branches burned, he scoured further down the beach where the trees came close to the shore for more firewood. What little firewood he’d found on the shore wouldn’t last him more than an hour.  
Once he’d gathered enough wood to last him a few hours, he returned to his makeshift camp and tossed the stray branches on the fire. He let out a tired groan as he laid back on the ground. Hopefully, he’d at least be able to get a few hours of sleep in before the sun was higher.

A crow’s call snapped Iron Bull back into consciousness. He quickly looked to his left and his right, relaxing when he confirmed that there was no threat. With a tired yawn, he scratched at his jaw and cracked his neck. The sun was officially above the horizon. The air had started to warm up, thankfully. His fire was just about dead; nothing more than a pile of ashes and some blinking embers. He rose to his feet, stretching slightly to get his blood flowing again. He knelt beside the river and took a few sips of water before kicking sand on the last of the embers. It was time to get back on Ethira’s trail. If she hadn’t been moving all night, that is.  
His trail markers were much easier to find in the daytime. Hopefully, they hadn’t been too obvious. It was hard to miss a tree with a giant patch of bark missing. Especially when they seemed to flow in a relatively straight line, albeit at odd intervals. Once he’d found where Ethira had fought with the wolves, he crouched inside the ring of fire. The wolves had run off one direction, and Ethira in the other. Slowly, he followed the disruptions in the needles as her footsteps led uphill. Her trail began to fade off again around where he had lost her before dawn. He growled in annoyance as he scoured the area for any signs of her passing. A sigh of relief escaped him as he found another trace of her further up the hill---a bloody handprint on a tree trunk.  
“Gotcha,” Iron Bull said.  
Her trail led him up to a cave in the rockface of the hillside. Aside from a lingering crust of ice and a large puddle of water at the mouth of the cave, it was empty. Were it not for the ice and a small blood spot at the back, it would have been almost impossible to tell that she’d been here at all.  
It didn’t take long for him to find a trace of her again as he stepped back outside. Just looking up, he could see a giant pillar of ice at the crest of the hill. If his assumption of his location was accurate, then the river would be on the other side of the hill. Abandoning her trail, he set off at a light jog back towards his camp by the river. If he was lucky, he’d meet her along the way.  
The distant roar of the rapids signaled his approach to his camp. But he had yet to encounter Ethira, or see any sign of anyone else having passed through the area. He veered off course, closer towards the edge of the ravine. Perhaps she was traveling closer to the edge? Part of him began to wonder if she had followed the river upstream instead. His heart stopped when he peered down into the ravine below. Rushing along with the tide, slamming into damn near every available rock and surface along the way was a painfully familiar head of blond hair. Above the dull roar, he could hear Ethira’s cries of panic and agony as the current battered her against the rocks.  
“Shit,” Bull muttered to himself as he took off down the hill towards the bank further downstream. “Shit, shit, shit.”  
The current quickly carried Ethira out of view. He swore again under his breath, chest heaving as he tried to keep up. Why the hell was she in the water? Had she hoped to walk along the river bank, only to find out she had no shoreline to walk on? Whatever the reason, he’d be sure to chastise her later, if he reached her before the current dragged her under. He slid down the embankment towards the shoreline, scanning either side of the river for her. When he didn’t spot her, or any sign of her, he ran back upstream along the shore, scanning the water ahead of him.  
Were it not for the clear waters, he almost would have missed Ethira just under the surface of the water. Her fingertips just barely broke the surface, desperately reaching for fresh air. Bull skidded to a stop and reached out to grasp her hand. With both hands firmly grabbing her arm, he started to tug her upwards, fighting against the current to pull her free. Ethira kicked and thrashed in a desperate attempt to free herself.  
With a final haul, he pulled her up and out of the water. He laid her down on the rocky shoreline and patted her cheek. Water poured from her mouth as a fit of coughs and gagging took her. She rolled onto her side as her lungs cleared themselves. He sat back as she caught her breath, doing his best to fight back the terse frown twitching at his lips.  
“You are one of the luckiest idiots I’ve ever met, Boss,” Iron Bull told her as she lay gasping. After another minute of letting air and life flow back into her, she fixed him with a blurry, half-opened eye and blinked once before her head fell back and she lost consciousness. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”  
Gently, he scooped her up in his arms and began his trek back towards his camp downstream. Ethira was freezing cold, but at least she was alive. He could feel her breath hit his neck in shallow puffs. He’d need to get her warm, and fast.


End file.
